Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where To Start A New Subscription: Handmade Tea
Tea Description:
Spiced Coffee from Handmade Tea begins with a smooth and silky Chinese black tea as the base. The base tea has sweet vanilla-like notes. Costa Rican coffee beans are blended into the base adding rich coffee flavor without being overwhelming. Lastly, cinnamon chips are blended in for a warm and spicy flavor. Together these flavors work quite well together. The vanilla notes from the base tea plays nicely with the cinnamon and the bold coffee notes balance things out a bit.
Taster’s Review:
Spiced Coffee from Handmade Tea has been sitting in my stash for sometime. I know shame on me but coffee flavored teas are not my cuppa. I’ve tried several in the past and most of them are just meh.
Now let’s put some perspective on this tea. I’m a coffee drinker in the mornings. I start every morning off with 2 cups of coffee then I switch to tea for the rest of the day. So I like the taste of coffee, but I don’t exactly like the idea of mixing coffee and tea together. Those profiles to me really don’t match.
Which is why the fact that I loved this tea so much completely surprised me. This tea is the perfect combination of rich coffee notes followed by a brisk tea malty flavor sweetened by subtle vanilla cinnamon notes. A treat to say the least. The flavors are gentle and bold but on point each sip.
I don’t always like the flavors that I receive from my monthly subscription from Handmade Tea. To be honest, I’ve cancelled my subscription once, but I found that I really missed receiving a uniquely different tea each month. This is just one of the wonderful examples you can expect when you subscribe!
Bangkok Green Tea -Nectar Fine Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green Tea
Where to Buy: Nectar Fine Teas
Tea Description:
Green Tea-Japan(Coconut/Lemongrass) 2-3 minutes@170/180f
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I’m not sure where I found Bangkok Green Tea from Nectar Fine Teas but it doesn’t look like they have an online presence except for a FB page. I’m sad to find this because this coconut flavored green tea and I have become the best of friends as of late!
This flavored green tea is a lovely mix of green tea, coconut pieces, and lemongrass. Simple yet full of fresh proper flavor. I am a huge fan of cold brewing tea at work. I pour a few scoops into my silicone infuser, some ice, and water and let the cup sit. I use a stainless steel tumbler which holds all the coldness in quiet nicely. In just about a half an hour or so, I have the start of a wonderful iced cuppa tea.
As an iced flavored green tea, this tea really delivers on flavor! Cool crisp green tea with a lovely lush coconut flavor that just stands out with perfection. The lemongrass flavor I don’t really get in this cuppa, but maybe as a hot tea that flavor might stand up better.
We did try cold brewing the tea overnight in a pitcher and the flavors were just about the same as when we cold brewed it in a tumbler. The only difference is that the coconut flavor is way more prominent when cold brewing overnight. So if you are a fan of green teas and coconut flavors, I suggest cold brewing this one. You’ll be in coconut-green tea- heaven! Maybe before my stash runs out, I’ll try Bangkok as a hot tea but for now, I’m loving this tea just as it is!
Pretty in Pink from For Tea Sake
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: For Tea’s Sake
Tea Description:
For Tea’s Sake Pretty In Pink Loose Leaf Iced Tea Blend. Juicy and delicious strawberries are a traditional summer treat and when blended together with papaya pieces they make a pretty tasty cup of iced tea! Strawberry,3.5oz/85g Tin.
INGREDIENTS:
oolong and green tea, papaya and strawberry pieces, plum and safflower petals and natural flavors.CAFFEINE: Low
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Pretty In Pink from For Tea’s Sake is a new tea and a new tea company to me. I was enjoying lunch with my parents and hubby when we stopped into a little boutique shop afterwards. At the very front of the shop was a little display of different teas from For Tea’s Sake. I quickly squealed and picked up a few of the sample packs. With names like Pretty in Pink and Mint To Be Together, I was sold!
Pretty in Pink is a lovely blend of oolong, green tea, and fruity pieces. The dry mix had a rich and vibrant candy or cotton candy note to it. One that just made you start drooling.
Prepped this tea per the instructions they provide and I have to say the tea turned out quite brilliantly. First sip and I was hooked. This is one of those teas that a sample pack just will not do justice. Fresh bright strawberry flavors mingled with a sweetness that reminds me of a candy base or even like I said earlier cotton candy flavoring. But not overwhelming to the point of tasting fake. Add in the lovely lush oolong base, and you have yourself one fantastic treat!
This tea is one those that delivers infusion after infusion. I’ve spent a day with the same leaves and still the flavor is spot on. Sweet and spectacular. One that I could see would crave those 3pm sweet tooth cravings I have.
Pretty in Pink from For Tea’s Sake will be one that I will be picking up a larger package of. One that I will need more of soon for sure!
Orange and Papaya from Tea Shirt
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Tea Shirt
Tea Description:
Orange and Papaya from Tea Shirt
Flavoured Green Tea
Ingredients: green tea (60%), lemon grass, apple pieces, freeze-dried apple pieces, orange slices, mango flakes, papaya flakes, flavouring.
Preparation: Use one teaspoon of loose leaf tea per person.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Orange and Papaya flavored green tea from Tea Shirt had my interest right away. I mean orange, papaya, and green tea? How could this blend be anything but amazing?
When I received the tea, I was surprised by how big the fruit chunks are in it.The picture is exactly what you get. Huge chunks of mango, papaya, and orange peel along with apple pieces. Really lovely to look at and amazing to smell. Very rich in citrus and tropical notes.
I scooped a few heap fulls into my infuser and cold brewed this tea. With how muggy the summer has been lately, I wanted this tea to be a nice iced cold brew.
I let the tea cold brew overnight and tried it in the morning. I was hoping that those gorgeous chunks of fruit and lovely green tea leaves would produce an amazing treat for my taste buds. And it did just that!
The green tea gives a lovely buttery base that the orange and papaya flavors compliment nicely. Each flavor takes its time in the spotlight and there isn’t one flavor that overwhelms. Simple yet lovely. Lush Orange notes mingling with the tropical hints from the mango and papaya. A really nice refreshing take on a citrus tropical iced tea for the summer or really for anytime!
Well done Tea Shirt!
It’s Not Easy Being Green from Cat Spring Yaupon Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green Yaupon Tea
Where to Buy: Cat Spring Yaupon Tea
Tea Description:
As a tribute to Kermit the Frog’s ballad about the color green, our floral and fresh green yaupon tea blend bears the name, “It’s Not Easy Being Green”.
This green yaupon tea blend from Cat Spring Tea is a fresh soft green tea with a hint of mint and overtones of wildflowers, it is similar to a green jasmine tea yet without sharpness.
Contains: yaupon tea, organic green rooibos, organic ginger, organic lemongrass, and organic compliant lime flavoring.
The gorgeous longhorn and Texas wildflower artwork is by Dolan Geiman.
Learn more about this tea here.
Amazon also sells this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Yaupon Tea is a type I can honestly say I’ve never heard of. That’s one of the reasons of tea. The variety you get is amazing. So many different types and blends to try. There is always something new to check out!
From my research, I’ve found that Yaupon Tea is made from a plant native to North America. It actually has a really cool story. I won’t weigh the review of the tea down by all the facts but if you are interested like I was about the story behind this tea, check out this article.
So let’s chat about the tea itself. This tea had a very herbal look to it. Bright greens with pops of a yellow-white inclusion which I’m assuming is the ginger. The dry leaf has a pretty strong ginger aroma to it and me being one that doesn’t care too much for ginger, I was starting to wonder if I was going to like this.
I brewed this up like I would any other green tea and allowed the tea to steep for a bit (about 4 minutes). The brew still had a very strong ginger aroma and looked more like a black tea than a green tea when brewed up. I allowed the tea to cool for a few minutes and then took my first sip.
This is a unique tasting tea for sure and one that probably could use a bit more steeping. The tea reminds me more of a black tea than a green tea. I don’t pick up any of the green grassy notes or rich buttery-ness that I typically get out of green tea but more of an earthy malty flavor. I am noticing a slight sweetness that is nice but the ginger takes over towards the end of the sip and almost overwhelms the tea. The ginger is to me the only downside of this tea. I would love to see the green rooibos and lime flavorings that are in this blend really take over so I am going to try and steep this tea one more time to see if I shake up the package if I can get more of those inclusions to pop.
I started fresh and added in three scoops instead of the 2 I used last go around. I allowed the tea to steep for about 7 minutes and cool for three. Took my first sip and I have to say, my experience was pretty much the same with this infusion as the first. I didn’t pick up any of the lime flavorings or the green rooibos but I did get this lovely malty earthy ginger sweet flavor that really is tasty. Being the huge fan of green rooibos and lime, I was hoping that I would get. Regardless, the tea is still tasty the the experience is quite unique. So much so that I’m wanting to try the a few more from the line.
I did take one more quick experiment and made an iced tea out of the brew. Out of all the different ways to make the tea, this one is my favorite. The tea takes on a different level of deliciousness. Yes, the ginger is still the most notable flavor but the sweetness and floral notes are kicked up a bit more providing a much needed contrast. In just about every other sip, I swear I’m picking up those green rooibos honey notes.
All in all, a really lovely tea and one that I want to learn more about!